Our Team

Professor Joan S. Meier

Founder and Director of the National Family Violence Law Center,

Professor of Clinical Law at GW Law

GW Law Bio
Curriculum Vitae
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Danielle Pollack

Policy Manager of the National Family Violence Law Center

Bio
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Viola Vaughan-Eden

Child Welfare Advisor of the National Family Violence Law Center

Bio

Affiliated Faculty & Board Members

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Professor Naomi Cahn

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Distinguished Professor of Law and Armistead M. Dobie Professor of Law at UVA School of Law. Professor Cahn is an expert in family law, trusts and estates, feminist jurisprudence, reproductive technology, and aging and the law at the University of Virginia. She writes on changing families, trusts and estates, and the socio-politics of families and gender; and has a background in domestic violence work, advocacy, and scholarship.

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Professor Mary Ellsberg

Professor in Global Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health; Executive Director, Global Women’s Institute, GW. Mary Ellsberg founded and directs the Global Women’s Institute, and has decades of globally-recognized expertise in research on international women’s health and gender issues. 

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Professor Laurie S. Kohn

Jacob Burns Foundation Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs; Director of the Family Justice Litigation Clinic, GW Law. Laurie Kohn directs the Family Justice Litigation Clinic, which provides representation to survivors of domestic violence in D.C. Superior Court. She also directs the Community Legal Clinics as a whole. Professor Kohn’s research focuses on domestic violence, civil protection orders, fatherhood, and related issues.

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Nicole Lang, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, GW. Professor Nicole Lang, MD teaches and supervises GW students on numerous pediatric topics including the social determinants of health, and how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) affect both children and families. 

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Professor Catherine J. Ross

Lyle T. Alverson Professor Emeritus of Law at GW Law. Catherine Ross taught Child, Family & State, Family Law, and Constitutional Law. Her research focuses on constitutional, legal, and policy issues concerning families and children.